Table Of ContentPALGRAVE STUDIES IN YOUNG PEOPLE AND POLITICS
SERIES EDITORS:
JAMES SLOAM · CONSTANCE FLANAGAN · BRONWYN HAYWARD
Leading Protests in
the Digital Age
Youth Activism in Egypt and Syria
Billur Aslan Ozgul
Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics
Series Editors
James Sloam
Department of Politics and International Relations
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, UK
Constance Flanagan
School of Human Ecology
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, WI, USA
Bronwyn Hayward
School of Social and Political Sciences
University of Canterbury
Christchurch, New Zealand
Over the past few decades, many democracies have experienced low or
falling voter turnout and a sharp decline in the members of mainstream
political parties. These trends are most striking amongst young people,
who have become alienated from mainstream electoral politics in many
countries across the world. Young people are today faced by a particu-
larly tough environment. From worsening levels of child poverty, to large
increases in youth unemployment, to cuts in youth services and educa-
tion budgets, public policy responses to the financial crisis have placed a
disproportionate burden on the young.
This book series will provide an in-depth investigation of the changing
nature of youth civic and political engagement. We particularly welcome
contributions looking at:
• Youth political participation: for example, voting, demonstrations,
and consumer politics
• The engagement of young people in civic and political institutions,
such as political parties, NGOs and new social movements
• The influence of technology, the news media and social media on
young people’s politics
• How democratic innovations, such as social institutions, electoral
reform, civic education, can rejuvenate democracy
• The civic and political development of young people during their
transition from childhood to adulthood (political socialisation)
• Young people’s diverse civic and political identities, as defined by
issues of gender, class and ethnicity
• Key themes in public policy affecting younger citizens—e.g. youth
(un)employment and education
• Cross-cutting themes such as intergenerational inequality, social
mobility, and participation in policy-making—e.g. school councils,
youth parliaments and youth wings of political parties
The series will incorporate a mixture of pivot publications (25,000–50,000
words), full-length monographs and edited volumes that will analyse these
issues within individual countries, comparatively, and/ or through the
lenses of different case studies.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15478
Billur Aslan Ozgul
Leading Protests
in the Digital Age
Youth Activism in Egypt and Syria
Billur Aslan Ozgul
Department of Social and Political
Sciences
Brunel University London
London, UK
Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics
ISBN 978-3-030-25449-0 ISBN 978-3-030-25450-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25450-6
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover credit: Joel Carillet/Getty Images
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Ahmet, thanks for making this journey even more memorable
A
cknowledgements
This book has benefited from the valuable ideas and advice of many
people. First of all, I would like to thank my Egyptian and Syrian inter-
viewees, who spent hours answering my questions and shared with me
their experiences, hopes and sorrows. I owe a special debt of thanks to
Abdelrahman Ayyash, Abed Al Sarraj, Amer Omar, Bilal Zaiter, Caroline
Ayyoub, Islam Talaat, Iyas Kaadouni, Radamis Hany Zaky, Sherif Azer
and Sherif Alaa for their contributions and for introducing me to many
great revolutionaries. This manuscript would not have been possible
without them. I would also add that the support of Mina Hany, his
guidance in Cairo and his translations were of crucial importance for the
preparation of this manuscript. In the summer of 2013, I spent hours
at the Syrian National Coalition Media office’s employees, listening to
their protest experiences in different parts of Syria; I warmly thank them
for allowing me to visit their offices and conduct interviews with them.
In addition, I am tremendously grateful for the time of Abdelrahman
Mansour, Ahmed Samih, Enrico Angelis, Esraa Abdel Fattah, Mahmoud
Masri (pseudonym), Wael Abbas and Wael Eskandar. This book greatly
benefitted from the recounting of their experiences and knowledge.
I would also like to thank the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan,
and Ambra Finotello and Anne-Kathrin Birchley-Brun, who have been
very supportive in the writing stage and patiently answered my questions.
I am also most grateful to James Sloam for his encouragement, support
and valuable advice on my draft chapters.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I began this study when I was a Ph.D. candidate at the New Political
Communication Unit at Royal Holloway, University of London, and
continued at the Centre of Media and Politics at Bournemouth
University. Both institutions provided me with many opportunities to
conduct the study, for which I am tremendously grateful.
There are also many colleagues who were inspiring and substantially
supported this study with their intellectual assistance. I owe a special
thanks to Ben O’Loughlin, who has always been an inspiration for me.
His valuable advice, support and enthusiasm enabled this manuscript to
be drafted and progress to its best potential. I also very much appreci-
ate the useful feedback and constructive criticism of Juan Cole, Cristian
Vaccari, Andrew Chadwick and Oliver Heath; their theoretical and meth-
odological advice greatly improved this book. At the beginning of this
research, Alister Miskimmon created an incredible opportunity for me by
introducing the DGAP conference that took place in Cairo, and this is
where I first met with Egyptian activists, which was a turning point in
my life and for which I am extremely grateful. I am also very fortunate
to have been surrounded by excellent research mentors, particularly Dan
Jackson and Darren Lilleker, who contributed much my thinking while
this book was being written.
I gratefully acknowledge that some of the materials presented in
Chapters 5 and 6 appear in Aslan (2015). The Mobilisation Process
of Syria’s Activists: The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Use of
Information and Communication Technologies and the Political Culture,
International Journal of Communication 9(19): 2507–2525. The man-
uscript has also been greatly embellished from the proofreading of
Christopher Wood. I very much appreciate his assistance and friendship.
None of this would have been possible without the support of my
family. I would like to thank my mother, Neslihan, who has always
encouraged me to follow my dreams and taught me to challenge all types
of gender stereotypes. To my father, Suleyman, who is the main source
of my interest in politics and political participation, to my brother,
Metin, for always comforting me with his presence, and to my grand-
parents whom I love dearly. Finally, I dedicate this book to my husband,
Ahmet, who sustained me while conducting this research and writing the
manuscript over seven years. I am thankful for his love, encouragement,
support and assistance.
P L P
rAise for eading rotests
d a
in the igitaL ge
“This book provides a much-needed intervention into the study of pro-
tests and digital technology in the Middle East. Through an empirically
rich analysis, the author highlights how events in Egypt and Syria can
only be understood by analysing the intersections of organisational struc-
tures, resources, and technology. This is essential reading for anyone
interested in Egypt, Syria, or protests in the digital age.”
—Rhys Crilley, The Open University, UK
ix
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Egypt and Syria: Similarities and Differences Between
Two Countries 21
3 Three Styles of Leadership in the Egyptian Protests 67
4 Resource Mobilisation Strategies Retested 93
5 Breaking the Silence: The Efforts of Syrian Activists
to Organise and Mobilise Digitally Supported Protests 133
6 How the Peaceful Protests Turned into Armed
Struggles in Syria 153
7 A Comparison of Leaders’ Capabilities and Their
Resources 193
8 Conclusion 221
Index 241
xi
